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It's a Walk in the Park for AP Security

$It\'s a Walk in the Park for AP Security$

This summer, one crowd management company for four events has been the ideal combination for East London's Victoria Park. This was the venue for Love Music Hate Racism, Lovebox Weekender, Underage Festival and Field Day, where AP Security's long-standing relationship with both Tower Hamlets Council and the local police made for a trouble free festival season.

Each event has its own format - Love Music Hate Racism, for example is a free event, Underage Festival is 14s to18s only, with no unauthorised adults allowed on site - but one common factor is the tried and tested egress plan that AP has developed in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, that includes closing roads, diverting pedestrian flow, holding traffic back and then releasing it at the appropriate time, making the end of each day, a relaxed affair.

This is where any ‘cut and paste' method of crowd control ends, as Chris Hollands, southern operations manager for AP, recounts. "Lovebox Weekender is, as the name suggests, a two day event," says Hollands, "It's a hugely popular festival and there's a lot of interest from ticket touts, so we have to be one step ahead of them, which can be a challenge.

"But on the whole it attracts a really nice crowd and the only other issue in previous years has been uninvited guests trying to scale the perimeter fence. This year, on our recommendation, a double skin fence was erected and that really helped.

"Groove Amada, the festival's creators, rocked the place. It's great to work on an event where everyone's so happy."

Although there were no security issues, Underage Festival, held a few weeks later at the beginning of August, was AP's busiest event in the park. With xx thousand teenagers all in one place, excitement ran high, with moshing and crowd surfing being favourite activities.

"You have to keep an eye on them because spirits are so high. And they certainly keep us on our toes," smiles Hollands. "They run from one stage to another as bands change, so we have to do the same! We work alongside the local authority and police and relationship we have built up is priceless. We have our two hourly meetings to discuss things, making sure everything is running smoothly. There were no event related injuries and no police incidents, which means we've done our job properly. Our staff loves working there."

One of the other ideal things about Underage Festival is that everyone turns up, ready to go in as soon as the gates open, making the redeployment of staff resources to other areas of the site a simple operation once everyone is inside.

In marked contrast, the following day's Field Day festival saw a steady flow throughout the day, requiring careful calculation for redeployment of crew.

Even so, the only thing that actually posed AP a problem was the weather. "It rained continually from 1pm onwards, which meant that capacity inside the tents was an issue," says Hollands. "We had a capacity management team going from one place to the other, making sure the tents weren't overfilled as well as stopping people smoking inside, etc.

"Because the weather warnings were so severe, we had to go through emergency procedures in case of lightning strike or flash floods, which would have meant we had to evacuate the site. Luckily didn't have to do that."

Hollands reiterates the importance of the rapport AP has with the rest of the Victoria Park team. "The relationship we have with Tower Hamlets and the police is priceless," he asserts. "We all know each other very well. It works so well because we all make it work - we're all singing form the same song sheet."

Dick Tee, managing director of EnTEEtainment Ltd, production company for Lovebox, sums up the general feeling from AP's clients at the park: "Having worked with AP for a couple of years now, we have been very happy their level of service," he concludes. "Their past experience and 'local knowledge' at the Lovebox Weekender proved to be very valuable and a great asset."

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It's a Walk in the Park for AP Security

21st August 2008

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